A Hockey Player's Proposal (Oh Captain, My Captain #2) (5 page)

Brody

I board the team plane and yell for a couple rookies to calm down. I’m going to be gone for four days, and I already miss having sex with Selene. The last few girls I was with were boring. Jessica was crazy and loud in bed. I don’t mind having some noise in bed, but not yelling. I save that for the ice.

“Well, Captain Meatball, what is that grin for?” Kris sits down next to me.

I shrug, not answering him. The grin still on my face

“You ass! You got laid?” Kris punches me in the shoulder. “Who is she? That chick you’ve been banging the past couple months?”

I usually tell Kris about my sexual encounters, but I’m not sure this time. “No, I’m not seeing her anymore.” I’m hoping that he'll forget it.

“So, you’ve got a new buddy? Lucky bastard. Tell me all about it.”

I clear my throat and shift in my seat, looking away from him. “It’s my neighbor.”

“The stalker? You’re banging your stalker?” His voice is too loud.

“Will you shut up or at least lower your voice?”

“Are you having some type of Stockholm Syndrome to this girl?” he says in a lower octave.

“She isn’t a stalker. She’s a fan. Plus, I’m not having any type of syndrome or issue. Actually, it’s pretty great. After sex the last two times, she told me to get out. No cuddle, no nothing.”

“You lucky bastard, Meatball. My wife wants to cuddle all the damn time.”

“Don’t let her hear you say that.” I bump his shoulder and Kris laughs.

“Just be careful before you end up being on a
60 Minutes
segment.”

I nod to my friend and look at my phone before we take off.

Jessica: Brody, baby, call me

Jessica: I miss you so much

Jessica: Didn’t we have a good time together?

Jessica: I love you. Please call me

The messages go on and on. I shake my head and delete them. I turn on my iPod and lay my head back for the rest of the plane ride.

~ ~ ~

I finally make it to the hotel room, and I’m starving. The team dinner will be in about fifteen minutes, so I have to hold out until then. My phone has been alerting me of every text message. Most are from Jessica, one from my brother to call him, and then I see one from Selene.

Selene: I know you’re busy, but could you dogsit on Wednesday?

Me: Should be able to. What’s up?

Selene: I have a blind date.

I read the text twice. She has a date? She has a date! I stare at my phone.

“Time to eat, captain,” Kris yells out, banging on the door. I don’t reply yet. I put my phone in my pocket and head downstairs.

The entire team is sitting at tables, and I’m making the rookies sit with me tonight. They’ve been acting out of control the past few days and this is their punishment. I sit there, not listening to anything that they’re saying. I’m still thinking about that text message. Why do I care? I mean, she’s a great lay, but I shouldn’t care that she goes on a date.

I finish my meal, tell the rookies to behave, and head back to my room. I’m laying in the bed, trying to listen to NHL sports reports, but I’m staring at the text message.

Me: Sure, no problem.

I don’t care. I take a deep breath. If I lose her as my fuck buddy, I’ll find someone else. Yeah, I’ll keep telling myself that.

~ ~ ~

The game is rough. I almost thought I dislocated my shoulder when I got slammed into the boards. Then I got shoved into the players' bench. Needless to say, I was pissed off most of the game. On top of that, we lost 4-1.

After the media tears me to shreds during the interviews, we load up onto the bus. I’m in no mood to talk to anyone, and everyone knows it. When we get back to the hotel, I go straight to my room and flop on the bed. My phone rings, and I don’t look at the display as I answer it. I figured it’s my twin brother, who is going to yell at me for the crappy game.

“Hello.”

“Brody, baby.” Shit, it’s Jessica’s whiny voice on the other end.

“I’m not in the mood, Jessica.”

“Baby, I love you so much. We are meant to be together. Just you and me.”

“No, you don’t love me and I definitely don’t love you. We are not meant for each other. Please stop calling and texting.”

“Baby, baby.” She starts to sob. Oh, good grief.

“Jessica, stop crying. I’m sure you’ll find someone.” What the hell else am I supposed to say to some sobbing chick? Apparently, it’s the wrong thing because she sobs harder.

“No, I...want...you.”

“Okay, I don’t have time for this. Sorry, Jessica.” I hang up. I know that I should've tried to calm her down, but I don’t want to deal with it. I turn my phone off and change out of my clothes. We have another game tomorrow, and the plane leaves early. I need rest, not a crazy, sobbing female.

~ ~ ~

The next night’s game is better, but we lost again. Sometimes it’s easier to lose on the road than in front of a home crowd, but it still sucks. The rookies finally calm down a little bit. On the other hand, Jessica is blowing up my phone still. I’m thinking I need to change my number. Thank goodness I never told her I moved. I can’t imagine her showing up at my front door.

We are flying late at night and I sleep the entire flight. When we finally land, I grab my bag and head to my car. We all mumble our ‘see ya laters’ and leave. There's no traffic, considering it’s past midnight, so I make it home quickly. When I’m getting the bag from my trunk, I see that Selene’s light is on. I can’t believe that she's still awake. I send her a quick text

Me: In need of a nightcap, friend.

Selene: I’m not horny, but I have cold beer

I smile at her text. I shut the trunk, leaving my bag in there, and walk across the yard. She opens the door when I hit the first step. Selene is in a pair of sweats and a Mustang’s t-shirt. As soon as I cross the threshold, she hands me a beer. I smile and we go into the living room. Of course, Bonkers is bouncing around me. When I sit, he jumps in my lap, panting and licking my face.

“Okay, okay,” I say, trying to calm him down.

“I think he’s happy you’re back.” Selene sits next to me. I turn and look at her. My breath is almost taken. “What?”

“I’ve never seen you without makeup,” I say honestly. Her eyes are bright, and her face is clear. 

“Brody, it’s midnight. I don’t wear makeup to bed.” She smiles, taking a sip of her beer.

“What are you doing up?” I lean back on the couch, and Bonkers lays on my lap.

“Couldn’t sleep.” She shrugs. “Shouldn’t you be in bed from the long road trip?”

“I should be, but I’m not as tired as I thought. Have I missed anything?”

“Nope. I’ve been watching some crappy hockey though.” She giggles.

“Really? I’m sure that was someone on my team, it couldn’t be me.”

“You win as a team and you lose as a team, Brody.” She perks her eyebrow at me with a serious look.

“You’re right, Selene.” I nod in agreement. “So, about this dogsitting, you have a blind date?” I inquire. I’m not sure why I care, but I want to know more about the date.

“Yeah, Allison is setting me up with one of her old college friends. He seems like he might be nice. We’ve been texting a little.” She shrugs like it isn’t a big deal.

“Oh, that’s cool.” I take a sip of my beer. “I’m on the verge of changing my phone number. The girl I was banging before you has gone a little crazy on me. She obviously didn’t understand our arrangement. Now she’s all like ‘I love you’ and ‘We need to be together’ crap.”

“See what happens when you assume I’m crazy? You end up getting yourself some crazy anyway.” She giggles at me. “Does she know you moved?”

“Oh hell no. I’m thankful for that. And, for your information, I now know you’re not crazy.”

“Good. But as far as dogsitting, Bonkers should behave for you. Much better than he does for me.” She pats Bonkers, who is still on my lap. He looks at her like she’s disturbing him.

“Anything I need to know? Like special foods, or does he need me to read to him so he’ll fall asleep?” I joke.

“No, but he likes to watch hockey, so if there’s a game on, turn on the TV.”

“Bonkers watches hockey?” I look at her stunned. I can’t image a dog watching TV.

“He is my dog, isn’t he? He loves it,” she says, like I should know this already.

“I don’t think I’ve known a dog to watch TV, let alone hockey.”

“Well, now you do. He’s been moping about those away games.” She bumps my shoulder.

“Ha, well, I will try to do better. For Bonkers, of course.” I pat him, and he curls closer to me. “So, this date, what do you know about this guy? Hockey fan?” I want to know more.

“The purpose of a first date is to get to know a person better. You know this, right? I’ll find all that out then. But after Mick, I’m almost to the point of limiting myself to dating only hockey fans. They’ll understand me better.” We both laugh.

“I’m not much of dater.” I shake my head. “Most of the girls I see are for, well, recreational purposes.” I wink at her.

“Nothing wrong with that,” she quips right back. “You’re a busy man. Makes sense, really. Have you ever been on a blind date in your short dating history? I trust Allison, but I’m still not so sure about it.”

“Blind dates don’t really work for me. Once people hear my name or see me, they aren’t ‘blind’ anymore. Actually, I haven’t really had a girlfriend in a long time. Well, during Junior Hockey, I was seeing someone seriously, but not since then.” I have no clue why I told her that. I never talk about
her
. “Why are you not sure about this date?” I quickly change the subject and hope that she doesn’t bring it up again.

“I guess it’s sort of because we have a mutual friend. If it goes bad and I want to bail, I can’t exactly get Allison to help me make up a reason to leave and never have to hear from him again. If that makes sense. But I want to know about the girl you were talking about. What happened?”

Damn. I don’t want to talk about it, but I trust that Selene will not ask too much. “Oh, we started dating when I was in Canada for Juniors. It got pretty serious. I even thought about marrying her. But I guess after all my traveling, she thought it wasn’t a good idea, and I caught her in bed with my friend. Well, so-called friend.”

“That’s terrible. I’m sorry you went through that, Brody. But look at you now. Captain, one of the hottest players in the league, and you’re banging the girl next door. It all worked out for you.” She smiles, talking about all the positives for me.

“I guess it did. I am hot, and you’re a great lay. Yep, win-win for me.” I give her a sexy smirk.

“A win for me too. I get sex and a dogsitter,” she says back.

“Um, just sex? I called you a great lay, and you say ‘just sex’. You know how to bruise my ego, Selene.” I place my hand over my heart and pout my lips.

“Ha, well if it makes you feel better, sex with you ranks in my top three best sex ever.”

“Top three? Well, I guess that means I’ll have to try harder to get to that number one spot. Of course, if you start dating this guy, then I can’t work on my skills to gain that spot.”

“Hm. I hadn’t thought of that.” She slightly frowns. “Here’s to hoping it doesn’t go all that well then.” She tips her beer bottle to me to toast. We clink our bottles and sip.

“Ha, see another win-win for me.” I smile. I look at my watch. “I should probably let you rest for work and your date tomorrow.” I sit my beer on her table and stand up, going towards the door. Bonkers doesn’t seem happy that I’m leaving. I turn right before I open it. “Thank you for the beer and for being a friend.” I give her a kiss on her cheek.

“Any time, Brody. G’night.” She nods and smiles.

~ ~ ~

Practice wasn’t too bad today. The rookies actually listened to the coaches, as did the rest of the team. I’m thankful for that. We’ve got some big games coming up, and I’m tired of losing.

When I get home, I shower and change to get ready for my dogsitting duties in a couple of hours. Before that, I grab some food and check emails. I swear there are more and more every day. The duties of being a captain are multiplying. Every email wants me to make an appearance. I have to shake my head because there is no way that I can be at all these places at the same time. I forward them all to my manager and let him deal with the ‘no thank you’ letters.

My phone alerts me of a text message.

Selene: Hey, where's my sitter?

I smile at the text.

Me: Damn, you’re bossy!! I’m on my way!